Before You Click That Link from “Amazon,” Make Sure It’s Not a Scam

Online scammers are targeting Amazon shoppers in Australia and the United Kingdom — and getting tricked during the busy holiday shopping (and shipping) season could mean major consequences for your financial safety.

Shoppers are getting emails from “Amazon” claiming their orders can’t be shipped.

“There was a problem processing your order. You will not be able to access your account or place orders with us until we confirm your information. Click here to confirm your account,” the email reads.

The message is riddled with spacing and capitalization blunders, but if you click to confirm your account, the “Amazon” page you land on looks almost exactly like a real Amazon page.

Screenshots obtained by AARP show an “Amazon” page with the familiar top navigation bar, gold field headers and the typical Amazon beige button for you to save your data.

But the information it asks for is totally bogus. Amazon would never ask you to click a link in an email message and type in your full name, address, and the numbers, expiration dates and security codes on all the credit cards you use to shop at Amazon.

Do you know how to tell if an email from Amazon is real or fake? Read on before this scam tries to wiggle its way toward U.S. shoppers.

How to Make Sure You Don’t Get Scammed

This scam is a phishing attack, one that fools you into giving away your information for malicious use.

If you receive an email that makes you suspicious, Amazon recommends taking these steps:

1. Check who the email is from. If the sender doesn’t use an “@amazon.com” email address, it’s fake! 
2. Visit the “Your Orders” page of your Amazon account to determine if any of your recent orders have fulfillment, billing or shipping issues.
3. Visit “Your Account” to check your payment options. Amazon says if you aren’t prompted to update your billing info on your account’s “Manage Payment Options” page, the email you got isn’t from Amazon.
4. Report the suspicious email to stop-spoofing@amazon.com. Amazon doesn’t respond to these emails, but it investigates potential issues.

Your Turn: Have you received a suspicious email claiming to be from Amazon? What did you do about it?

Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.

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